Don’t Toss Those Old Sneakers

This article is part of a series examining Responsible Fashion, and innovative efforts to address issues facing the fashion industry. MILAN — The kings of our casual-attire era, sneakers have long been landfill fodder of cheap fabrication. Golden Goose, a maverick footwear enterprise, would like to propose an alternative: handicraft and repair. With its flagship…

Finding My Joy at Essence Festival

The first five notes of “Swag Surfin’” rang out in the cavernous New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — a rallying call for a swarm of people to a makeshift dance floor. Doing what one naturally does when the F.L.Y. (Fast Life Yungstaz) 2009 hit comes on, I locked damp arms with a stranger…

The Age of Distracti-pression

If you’re wondering which pills and how many of them Americans have relied upon to make ourselves feel better since Covid-19 arrived, the answer, in short, is yes. “I should have gone back on medication sooner in the pandemic than I did,” said Leah Bellow-Handelman, 36, matter-of-factly. Ms. Bellow-Handelman, a nurse who lives in Brooklyn…

Una apuesta que no pudo resistir

Mi madre me dijo: “¿Por qué no comes?”, y su acento de Yonkers resonó en el silencioso restaurante chino. Una peluquera italoamericana de 77 años que creía que casi todos los problemas podían resolverse con un montón de espaguetis y albóndigas, vio mi falta de apetito como una señal de alerta. “Estoy bien”, le dije.…

Valentino’s Roman Marvels

ROME — The couture shows came to an end not in Paris but in Rome, with a river of gold ballroom chairs connecting the Piazza di Spagna at the foot of the Spanish Steps — the most famous people-watching and -posing staircase in Europe — to Piazza Mignanelli, where the Valentino headquarters stand. Twenty-three years…